A paedophile had his human rights violated when the police told his employers about a 20-year-old conviction for molesting a toddler, a judge has ruled.

By Caroline Gammell

4:13PM BST 07 Apr 2009

The man, known only as W for legal reasons, was 16 when he sexually assaulted a three-year-old boy he was babysitting.

Mr Justice Nicol ruled that disclosure of the 1987 conviction - which led to the man being sacked - had been unnecessary and breached his human rights.

He said the Northumbrian police had failed to consider Home Office guidelines before "unlawfully" passing on information about the historic conviction, for which he received a 12-month supervision order.

Mr Justice Nicol said the disclosure was a breach of Article Eight of the Human Rights Convention, the right to respect for privacy and private life.

But the man, from Tyne and Wear, will receive no compensation because the judge agreed that the police had been right to disclose to the man's employers his 2007 arrest on suspicion of abusing his own daughter.